Newbie Airport Question

Go to Google flights and enter various departure cities and see which results you like best. You can see results for various dates if you then click on "Flexible Dates". It will bring up a calendar of the month you wish to travel, so you can find the difference in price per departure city per day...

Jessica... thanks for the response! What is your opinion of websites like Kayak, Orbitz, etc? Should I bother with them?

Why not American out of Philly? Much more convenient.

Any of those flight websites are fine, but be cautious if they suggest that you buy your tickets from a website other than an airline. There can be some complications if you buy from someone like Vayama and you run into a flight delay or cancellation.

It's too early to buy tickets for April 2019, but it's very helpful to monitor prices for your desired destination for a good while before clicking the "Buy" button. That way, you'll have a good sense of what the normal price range is. Fares move up and down a lot on some routes. If you have a sense of "normal" you'll recognize an odd fare spike when you see one, and you won't buy then (or you'll look for an alternative set of flights that's almost as good and hasn't spiked upward). Similarly, if you have a good idea of the typical pricing and one day the fare is $200 lower, you'll know you are looking at a good deal.

I sort of doubt that you will find significant-enough price differences to make it worthwhile to fly out of one of the NYC-area airports (what will it cost you to get there or to park your car for the duration of the trip? And how much extra time will you need to allow for that trip north, to be 100% certain you don't miss the flight? Still, I would certainly check fares from Newark and JFK. At some level of savings it becomes worthwhile to travel a little farther.

You'll probably be able to get a good deal on a flight to Rome in April next year. Easter falls on April 21, and there could be some holiday impact on fares around that time, so if you can be a bit flexible on your travel dates, that may prove to be beneficial.

Most trips, especially to Italy--a long, skinny country--benefit from purchase of what is called a "multi-city" ticket. That allows you to fly into one city and out of another. One should always compare the multi-city price to a roundtrip to the cheapest practical destination in Italy (from where I live, that would be Rome or Milan, but from Philly, it might be different). If you fly in and out of the same city in Italy, you will almost certainly spend several hours on trains getting back to your starting point, and that will cost some money as well as precious vacation time.

Two years ago I found a flight to Italy out of Newark that was much cheaper than any flight I could get out of Philadelphia. For this spring I have booked another flight out of Newark (this time to England) and again it was much cheaper than flying out of Philadelphia. Both times the price difference was multiples of the difference in my cost to get to Philadelphia vs Newark and I do live considerably closer to Philadelphia. Without that price difference I would never go near the Newark Airport.

We live outside Philadelphia and I always check flights from both Philly and Newark. We've never flown out of JFK and I doubt it would be cost effective, taking into consideration getting to NY, parking, etc. You can take NJ Transit from Trenton directly to Newark Airport so, depending on where you live, it might work to go to Newark. We were in Spain for two weeks in February and flew out of Newark.

Norwegian flies nonstop from Newark to Rome. The fares are very reasonable.

I use search sites like Orbitz, Expedia, etc., to research ticket prices because they fluctuate a LOT. But when it comes time to book the ticket, I'd book directly through the airline's website.

My usual method is to decide how much I'm willing to pay for a ticket. If I see the price going down, I'll sometimes go ahead and book. But whatever happens, once I have booked my flight I never look to see what the current prices might be.

If you can find a significantly cheaper flight out of JFK or Newark, then you may be able to take advantage of a fare sale from those airports. Philadelphia is an American Air hub still, right? That might also be a good departure point.

Just one note when you compare ticket prices. Most airlines now have some version of what they call a 'basic economy' seat which is one step below regular coach seating in that you often can't select your seat ahead of time, you're not guaranteed to sit with your party, and some airlines have more luggage restrictions for those fares than others.

When you're comparing prices, make sure you're comparing the same type of seat. Economy/coach vs Economy Plus (upgraded economy) vs Basic Economy (downgraded economy).

Hope you have a wonderful trip!!

Ive used Orbit quite alot- you actually get “Orbit Bucks” that you can use toward future bookings- never had a problem- you pick the flight/airline you want- easy site to use- and hotels were exactly like pictured- when you bundle flight and hotel its almost like getting hotel free- I check flights on google flight to get idea of prices first- then use Orbitz- have also used Priceline and Expedia as well

Thank you all so much! This is a great first step toward our trip. I'm sure I'll be back to bug you!

Take care

Phillip, I also live near Philadelphia and have made the trip to Italy 3 times to visit family.

The first time, my wife and I flew from PHL to JFK to FCO (Rome). The flight from PHL was delayed for 2 hours due to bad weather and we made it onto the plane at JFK about 2 minutes before they closed the door. Needless to say, it was a very stressful day as for several hours I feared that we would miss our international flight. Also, our checked baggage did not make it onto the plane. We did get it back a few days later, but not having our luggage for 2 days added to the stress.

The 2nd and 3rd trips we made were different. Both times we took the non-stop flight on American from PHL to FCO. We also travelled with carry-ons only, so our luggage would not get lost. Later this year we are making another trip, from PHL to Venice. American Airlines has a daily non-stop from PHL to Rome and from PHL to Venice. These may be more expensive than other options, but to me the extra $ are worth the simplicity of flying non-stop from my local airport to Italy.

You have a lot of great advice above. I will add this - sign up for Emirates emails. A couple of times a year for the last few years, they will have a sale. If you want to go to Italy, they only fly from JFK to Milan. But...the fare sale is usually around $800 for two people. That’s a huge savings over most airfares to Rome. You can take the train from Milan to Rome and back. Also, check for big airfare sales around Black Friday and Cyber Monday.

rd's experience above is an good example of why it's smart to fly straight to Europe from your starting point if you can, and make any necessary connection there, if you can't get a nonstop. That family was stressed and luggage-deprived before they even got out of the US. It's easier to get transatlantic nonstop from the eastern US than from where I live, but I still try to get all the way across the ocean on the first flight. My next trip will be Seattle to London to Venice, and Rome to London to Seattle. I've built in good (maybe even excessive) layover times, but if anything goes wrong I'll at least be on the right continent and have more Plan B options.

We live in West Chester and pass your area on the way to the airport in Philly. We have flown direct non stop from PHL to FCO, MXP and VCE several times and love flying American. We have American cards from Barclay that we use for everyday purchases and monthly expenses, so we are able to use the reward miles for free flights. My son lives 15 minutes from Newark, but I don't think its worth the time or stress driving up there. Especially when coming home, it is a long flight (10 or 11 hours) I don't want to deal with the traffic in Newark, I just want to get home safely.